Coming out of the Dark
by EllieBear75
Summary: Veronica finally tells Keith about the events of Shelly Pomeroy's party. *Trigger warning: discussion of rape*
"She's so adorable. And cute. So very, very cute." Whispered Veronica as she gazed at the hours-old baby in Mac's arms.

"And little. Very, very little." Whispered Logan with a grin.

Veronica threw a glance at her boyfriend over her shoulder. "What?" He said. "I thought we were stating the obvious,"

Mac chuckled. She looked beautiful. Tired. No makeup. Hair slicked back with water. Glowing with new mother pride. Beautiful. Looking down at her 7-pound, white-blond little girl, she beamed. "I just can't get over that she came out of me. And that she's here. And she's got all her fingers and all her toes. And she's just….perfect."

Logan came up behind Veronica and put his strong arms on her shoulders. "Great name, too. Little Miss Celia MacKenzie. It has a nice ring to it."

Mac smiled at the couple. "Thanks. It was my maternal grandmother's name. I just thought it would be nice to remember her this way."

Veronica reached out to smooth the blond hair over Celia's tiny head. "Ready to tell me who her father is? Where this blond hair comes from?"

A loud snork sprung from Mac involuntarily. "No, best friend. It is still none of your business. And don't go trying to yank any hairs out of her head for testing. I'm counting each one to make sure she is returned to me with every piece of DNA she owns, when she visits her Aunty Vee."

Logan let out a sigh. "Veronica. Leave the woman alone. She just had a baby - without anesthetic, I might add. She doesn't need to deal with your obsessive need to know everything."

Veronica was about to open her mouth when the hospital room door creaked. She glanced over her shoulder to see Keith Mars' head poke into the room. "Can I come in?" he asked quietly.

"Come on in, Mr. Mars." Mac said with a smile.

Keith nodded at Logan as he passed and smiled at Veronica and Mac. At the sight of the sleeping baby he clasped his hands in front of his mouth. "She's just beautiful, Mac. Just beautiful. You did well by this one."

Mac's face lit up. "Thanks Mr. Mars. Would you like to hold her?"

Veronica looked from Mac to her father. "Hey! Why wasn't I offered the baby?" she exclaimed.

"Ummm…maybe because I saw how you treated your pretend baby in high-school and thought your father was a safer bet?" Grinned Mac as she handed the baby to Keith.

Veronica was about to come back with a witty retort, when her focus shifted to her father, who was now holding the infant. It was true. He was the natural in the room. One hand was gently cradling the baby's head while the other hand had pulled the bundle securely to his chest. He began softly rocking himself back and forth, while cooing to the baby in quiet tones.

Veronica's heart rose to her throat. She felt Logan's hand reach for hers gently. Her pulse quickened and she felt her face start to flush. "Come with me." Logan whispered in her ear. She nodded quietly, never taking her eyes off of her father and the baby.

"We'll give Mr. Mars some time with you and the baby." Logan said as he guided Veronica towards the door. "We'll be back in a few minutes."

Mac looked up from watching her daughter and waived at the couple as they started to disappear through the door. "Thanks guys! I'll see you in a few!"

Out in the hall, Veronica leaned against the slippery tile wall, looking at the ground. Logan stood in front of her, looking down at the top of her head. "Hey." He said gently.

After a moment, Veronica looked up. "Hey."

He leaned down and kissed her forehead. He took her hands again and pulled her from the wall. "Come with me. I have something that will make you feel better."

"What's that?" she sighed.

Logan let go of one hand and reached into his back pocket for his soft brown wallet. He held it up and waved it at her. "We are going to find the finance office. My AMEX Gold needs to take care of Mac's hospital bill." He smiled. "I mean….Mars Investigations' very, very good health care plan needs to take care of Mac's hospital bill."

Veronica smiled and took a step closer to him, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her head to his heart. "Normally, I would fight you on something like this, but it is to overwhelmingly nice. Thank you for taking care of this."

Logan wrapped his arms around Veronica. "Let's go find that office and then come back up for a longer visit with the girls."

Veronica smiled up at him. "Sounds good, Admiral Moneybucks. You take the lead."

Barbeque steaks at Keith Mars' house had become a weekly tradition. When Logan was overseas, it was a good distraction for Veronica. When he returned, it was a good way for Logan to slowly work his way into Papa Mars' "good books." The conversation usually fell into one of three topics: discussion of investigations, stories of stupid antics by Logan and his ship-mates, and baseball. All three topics were approved of by Veronica and continued to maintain a healthy balance of peace and hospitality in the Mars house.

But tonight, there was a new topic: babies. This topic was not approved of by Veronica and throughout the course of the night, Logan could feel her tension building. Keith was blissfully unaware of Veronica's mounting hostility as he went on and on about baby Celia, told embarrassing stories from Veronica's childhood, and just rambled on about babies in general.

It was while Logan was clearing the plates from the table that the conversation turned. A silence fell as he brought the last remnants of the dinner into the open kitchen that Keith finally spoke the words that he had danced around all night. "So…" he started, looking at Veronica, "…do you think you and Logan will be having any children."

Logan spun around to see Veronica look up from the nail she had been vigorously inspecting and saw her mouth drop open. "I….I…." she stammered.

"I'm sorry." Keith said quickly, pushed his chair back, and looked back at Logan, who was frozen to his spot by the kitchen island. "I don't know what I was…."

"I can't." Veronica spit out. The words shocked her as much as they did her father. Her head fell to her lap.

Logan dropped the cutlery in his hands on the island with a clatter. He looked back at Veronica.

"I'm sorry. You're right, Veronica." Her dad said as he strode to the living room. "I have no right to…"

"No dad." Veronica said a bit quieter. "You don't understand." She took a deep breath and rose to look at her father. Keith turned to see his daughter. Her face had gone pale. "I CAN'T. I can't have children."

Logan's spine instinctually straightened and pulled him to as stiff stance. His eyes darted from the elder Mars to the younger.

Keith drew a sharp breath and his eyes narrowed. Logan saw his fists clench at his sides as he processed his next words. "Does this have anything to do with the SDT that asshole gave you in high school?" Pointing directly at Logan, he spit the words like daggers across the room.

Logan gasped and sputtered "What? Wait. Me? NO! I didn't….we didn't…I'm not the one…" his words flailing wildly "I'm not the one who gave it to her!"

Veronica turned from her father to Logan and back to her father. "No Daddy! Is that what you've thought? All these years? Is that why you've hated Logan?" Her face was awash in pain. She could feel the tears prickle behind her eyes.

Keith's face turned to stone. He dipped his head for a moment, closing his eyes, then looked up again, directly at Veronica. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm sorry I said anything. I thought I knew what was going on, and I guess I know nothing."

 _Tell him._

A little voice came into Veronica's head.

 _Let go of it._

Veronica took another deep breath. She knew what needed to be said. "No Dad." She said. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I never told you. You always said I was safe to tell you anything and I never told you, and I'm sorry."

Concern crossed Keith's face. He stepped to his daughter and put his hand reassuringly on her arm. "Tell me what, Veronica. What do you have to tell me?"

 _You can do this._

Veronica looked at her father and spoke. "I was raped, Daddy. I was raped at a party. That's how I got the STD. That's why I can't have children."

A deep silence filled the air. Keith dropped his hand from Veronica's arm and staggered back into the living room. Behind her, Veronica heard Logan shift and let out a deep sigh. She took a deep breath and continued.

"I need to tell you. I need to tell you both." She turned to Logan. "Because Logan, you only know part of the story and Dad," she turned to her father. "you need to know so you understand."

Keith maneuvered his way to the couch and motioned to the big chair beside him, falling into his Sheriff voice. "Tell me." He said quietly. "Tell me what you want me to know."

Veronica quietly took a seat in the chair. Her father's hands were held in a prayer in front of him. Logan had shuffled himself to lean against the pillar between the rooms. Instinctually, he had pulled the sleeves of his grey Henley down over his hands. He was looking at the ground.

Veronica steadied herself and began to speak. "This is what I know. This is what I pieced together from what other people told me and what I remember. Over the years, I've finally been able to piece together everything. And this is what happened."

She clasped her hands together on her lap. Her eyes looked down. "One night, while you were off chasing a bounty, I went to a party at Shelley Pomeroy's place. I wanted to prove to everyone that I may have been knocked down by Lily's death, but I was going to get back up and continue on with my life."

"When I got there, it was a sea of people. I was walking through the crowd and Madison Sinclair handed me her drink. She spit in it and thought it would be funny to give it to me. I took it and drank it. What I didn't know was that it was laced with GHB. Dick Casablancas thought it would be fun to roofie his own girlfriend that night. But the drink landed in my hands instead."

She shifted slightly in her seat, eyes still cast downwards. "I thought I was drunk and staggered through the party, hoping to sober up. The events of what happened are still a little fuzzy but at some point, I passed out somewhere. Dick, Sean Friedrich, and Cassidy Casablancas found me." At the mention of Cassidy's name, Keith took a sharp intake of air. He covered his face with his hands as he mentally started to put the pieces together.

"Dick carried me into an empty bedroom and spread me out on the bed. He threw a condom at Cassidy and told him to 'have fun' with me. He and Sean left…and Cassidy raped me."

Keith pealed his hands away from his face and looked at his daughter. "Woody." He said, quietly.

Veronica looked up and nodded. "Yeah. Woody gave Cassidy Chlamydia when he abused him. And Cassidy gave it to me. That's how I knew it was Cassidy."

"Oh my god, sweetheart…" Keith began to speak.

"No wait, dad. There's more." Veronica shifted her gaze to her boyfriend. He was still leaning against the wall, his arms wound tightly around his body. His face was white. "He wasn't the only one who assaulted me that night."

"What?" Keith exclaimed.

"Duncan. Duncan raped me after Cassidy left me in the room."

Silence. Her final revelation was met with a deafening silence.

"Duncan?" Keith hissed through his teeth. "But you dated Duncan years after Lily's death?"

Veronica continued. "At first, Duncan told me that it was mutual. That I wanted it to happen as much as he did. That it was this magical event between the two of us."

She took a deep breath. "But then I took a course called 'Sexual Assault and the Law' in college. And I realized that there was no way it could have been consentual. Not with the amount of GHB I had ingested. Not with what had just happened with Cassidy. There was no way it could have been consentual. But somewhere, in Duncan's mind, he thought it was."

Suddenly, angry tears burst from Veronica and venom trickled into her voice. "And all these years I had tried to spin it around in my head so that something 'good' may have happened that night. That's why I dated Duncan after it happened. In my head, dating him after this so-called 'romantic interlude' normalized it. It was just part of our story."

"When in fact I was raped by not one but two men that night, one of which was the first boy I ever had feelings for and one who gave me a horrible disease that made it so I can't ever have children."

She covered her face as she started to sob. Keith lunged from his seat and knelt in front of her, wrapping his arms around her in a protective circle. "I should have been there. Not chasing bounties. I should have been there for you, Veronica." Slowly, he started rocking his daughter, all the while whispering in her hair. "I should have been there. I could have protected you."

Veronica pulled back her head. Her face was red and wet from crying. "It's not your fault, Dad. Even if you were home, I would have found a way to go to that party. I went. It happened. I dealt with it." Her face turned firm.

Keith's voice started to shake. "But if I was home, we could have reported it. I could have taken you to the police station. We would have gone to the hospital…"

Veronica shook her head solemnly. "I went to the police station. That morning. Instead of going home. I went to the station, in the state I was in, and reported it to Lamb." She threw her head back and forced a small laugh. "He said he wasn't going to bring in every 09er in town. He said that I should 'go tell the wizard'….that maybe he could help me."

Keith shut his eyes. He bowed his head and rubbed his hands over his face. He looked back up at Veronica. "Then it's a good thing he's dead, because I'm pretty sure I would have killed him if I knew what he said and what had happened."

Veronica sniffled. "I know." She whispered. "I know. I know what lengths you would have gone through to make sure justice was served. That's part of the reason why I didn't tell you."

All the words had been said. Keith wrapped his arms around his daughter again and she buried her face in his shoulder, giving into her tears one last time.

Time passed. The sound of Veronica's crying dissipated. There was no sound left in the house but the breathing of three people. Veronica pulled her head up from her father's embrace. Keith unfolded himself and stood. Following Veronica's gaze, he looked behind him, towards Logan. The strapping Navy man he knew had shrunk away, and in his place was the skittish teenager he once knew. Logan's square shoulders had slouched and shrunk as he leaned against the pillar. One arm was pulled protectively around himself; his free hand was up at his mouth as he quietly chewed the nail on his thumb.

Keith looked down at Veronica and offered his hand to her. She pulled herself up and strode over to her boyfriend. Standing straight in front of him, she reached a hand up to his shoulder and rubbed his shoulder gently. "Hey." She said.

"Hey." He said, his sad eyes looking down at her. He unwound himself and enveloped her in a hug. Veronica pressed her ear to his heartbeat. She let out a deep exhale. She felt safe. She felt free.

"I'm sorry I never told you the whole story." She muttered into his chest.

Logan bowed his head and kissed her crown. "Well, that explains why you treat Dick like the devil."

She shifted in his arms and looked up to his face. "I know how close you two are. I tried to get past it. I tried. But I just can't forget."

Keeping eye contact with her, he nodded silently. She knew that the information about Dick and Duncan was cutting into him, and she knew that they would have to talk about it more eventually, but at this moment, she was almost out of words.

Keith approached the couple. "Logan." He said gently. "I think I owe you and apology. I jumped to conclusions. I took pieces of a mystery and spun my own story from them. I've been mad at you for years for something you never did, and I'm sorry." He offered his hand to his daughter's beau.

Logan looked at Keith's face. He looked down at his hand. Slowly, he removed one arm from around Veronica and shook Keith's hand.

"Thank you, Mr. Mars." Logan said quietly and then wrapped his arm back around Veronica.

Keith nodded at Logan and turned from the couple, excusing himself for a minute. He quietly shuffled down the hallway and disappeared into his bedroom.

Logan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The smell of marshmallows and Promises filled his senses. Even with everything that happened, everything that was revealed, Logan felt at peace, at least for the moment. All secrets were out in the open. There was nothing hidden any more. And for this, he was momentarily grateful.

"I'm so proud of you." He said to the top of Veronica's head. "I know how hard that must have been. How are you doing?"

Veronica gave a little smile and looked up at Logan again. "Take me home?"

Logan gave a small smile back. "Always."


End file.
